Cuadernos de Coyuntura

Unemployment and informal jobs in Panama with its effects on economic development, years 2020-2024

2025-07-02T20:19:59+00:00

Unemployment and labor informality in Panama have been persistent issues with significant effects on the country's economic development, especially between 2020 and 2024. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated these problems, increasing unemployment and pushing more people into the informal sector. Labor informality, characterized by the absence of formal contracts and social protection, affects sectors such as retail trade, agriculture, and domestic work.

Through a descriptive-explanatory methodology, the study analyzes data collected through surveys and secondary sources. The results show that 52% of respondents are unemployed, and 20% work informally. The main causes of unemployment include government changes and business closures. Additionally, 61% of respondents report monthly incomes below B/.300.00, highlighting economic vulnerability.

The study employs various economic theories, such as Keynesian unemployment theory and the dual labor market theory, to explain the persistence of these phenomena. It also examines policies implemented in other countries to mitigate unemployment and informality, highlighting strategies such as financial assistance programs and employment digitalization. The conclusions emphasize the need for government interventions that promote job formalization, access to labor benefits, and workforce training. Recommendations include tax incentives, financial inclusion programs, and partnerships with international organizations to improve job stability in Panama.

Performance of Panama’s private pension sector 2024

2025-07-03T16:32:05+00:00

The report entitled Performance of Panama’s Private Pension Sector 2024 aims to present the main results regarding the evolution of the number of affiliates, the growth of managed assets, and the response to contingencies through the provision of benefits to affiliates, as well as the returns obtained by the various pension funds. These are key elements for analyzing the impact of the pension industry in the Republic of Panama.

Data falsification in the World Bank Doing Business report

2025-07-03T17:17:08+00:00

The article analyzes the problem of data errors, especially when they are intentional, resulting in misconduct or fraud by those who prepare and publish the study. It uses the case study of data falsification in the World Bank's Doing Business report to highlight the dangers of using erroneous data in decision-making by governments, investors, and companies. The document is divided into five sections that address concepts of error, the nature of Doing Business, data falsification, consequences, and prospective conclusions.

In 2018, the World Bank's chief economist, Paul Romer, suggested inconsistencies in the study's methodology, and in 2020, anonymous complaints prompted an investigation that revealed pressures to manipulate data in 2017 and 2019. This action resulted in improvements in the rankings of countries like China and Saudi Arabia. Despite this, there were no significant consequences from this incident, and after its suspension, the publication was relaunched in 2024 under the name Business Ready, with a limited number of changes.

A comparison is made with the situation of credit rating agencies, and it is concluded that the Doing Business scandal highlights the need for greater transparency and accountability in data collection and publication, as well as the importance of addressing conflicts of interest, particularly the phenomenon of "revolving doors" in international financial institutions.

Private banking credit provincial construction activity in the Republic of Panama

2025-07-03T18:34:18+00:00

In the financial and banking economics research line, the topics of private banking lending specifically in the construction of housing, shopping centers, and plazas in the provinces of the Republic of Panama were addressed. The results reveal that banking activity, in its private banking branch, has been contracting between 2018 and 2024. For seven years, construction activity has been contracting but creating solutions and new commitments from the state. The objective of comparing provincial lending to the construction industry was to review the Banking Activity Reports of the Superintendency of Banks of Panama, citing information on construction loans.

In addition, the Economic and Social Reports of the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) were reviewed, citing information on the behavior of the construction industry. Using information on construction lending for each of the ten provinces from 2024 to 2023, it was possible to identify the provinces where lending is increasing and those where it is decreasing. Only three provinces are increasing construction lending: Bocas del Toro, Coclé, and Veraguas. Meanwhile, seven provinces are decreasing construction lending: Colón, Chiriquí, Darién, Herrera, Los Santos, Panama, and Panama Oeste. New construction lending has been declining. After seven years, private banking activity in construction lending is experiencing a crisis that engulfs the real construction economy.

Memories of the Panama Canal Centennial

2025-07-03T19:02:52+00:00

On August 15, 2014, the world celebrated 100 years of efficient and uninterrupted operation of the pharaonic engineering feat better known as the Panama Canal. Today, eleven years later, we highlight some economic data in the context of the Canal's centennial to gauge the importance of the works constructed along the interoceanic route. Thus, in this brief article, we attempt to compile contributions from nine professors from the Faculty of Economics at the University of Panama on the Panama Canal. Many of the Panama Canal's founders, including foreigners rather than native Isthmus residents, are the architects of ideas, plans, and concrete physical works. I believe it is only fair to recognize the merits of all those who have positively contributed, including those from outside the Isthmus.

Truly, the concept of the "Panama Canal" is more than a single engineering structure; it is an enormous, multifaceted interoceanic logistics complex, with varied scope at the global, regional, and, of course, national levels. Aside from the logical contexts of maritime transport and global trade, this complex today encompasses the following: land and air transportation, production, movement and storage of goods, international banking and finance, and other activities.

Regarding the Panama Canal, there is more than a century of history to review, for Panama, the United States, and the world. Simply discussing politics, economics, and technology would lead us to extensive topics. Rather than the Canal itself, regarding Panama and the related treaties, we would spend annotating and explaining extensive stories of results, progress, and problems. Almost all of our isthmus history revolves around the interoceanic isthmus's geographical position, which is of enormous commercial-economic, geopolitical-military, and transcultural significance.

Editorial

2025-07-11T18:52:45+00:00